By Fancy Robbins
The constant slamming of barbells on the ground. The electrifying atmosphere under the Friday night lights.
This is what Chris Overholt became accustomed to after experiencing it his whole life.
However, that all changed for “Coach O” mid-August when he received the opportunity to become an assistant principal at Delta High School, where he’s been a football coach and teacher since 2015.
“I went through a range of emotions, from excitement of a new opportunity, to grief almost, the death of another position where I’m stepping away from,” Overholt said.
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Last Friday, Nov. 1, the IHSAA sectional semi-final game between Mississinewa and Delta wasn’t just the end of the season for the Eagles. It was the end of an era.
After nine seasons of being Delta’s head coach, Coach O is hanging up his headset.
“It’s surreal, it’s a chapter that’s closing,” senior football player Cooper Bratton said. “With it being both of our final seasons, it’s crazy it’s coming to an end.”
The 2024-25 senior class has special connections to Delta football. A few of the senior football players, Nash Keesling, Zane Cline, Bronson Edwards and Cooper Bratton, served as ball boys when Coach O first began coaching at Delta.
“I think that it’s very meaningful being able to be a part of Delta football, even before I became a player,” Cline said. “Being around Coach O for so long has left such a positive impact on me, not just as a player but also as a person.”
Throughout his career as a coach, Coach O has held his players to a high standard, not only in playing football but the way they treat others.
“I hope my players go out into the world, appreciating developing trust and relationships with other people,” Overholt said.
Every season he makes sure the team helps out the community.
They have a youth camp, go to elementary schools and read to the students, and pass out candy in Albany’s Halloween parade.
“He showed me how I can make an impact more than just the people around me and I can make an impact on the community,” junior football player Cole Mynett said.
Junior football player Matthew Morey added: “He really is a role model.”
The word “believe” inspired Overholt to treat others in a positive way and preach this to his players.
When he first started coaching at Delta, he wrote the word on a sticky note and kept it in his office. He still has it to this day.
“It’s really a foundational piece for me because you just never know when a word can reground you,” Overholt said.
The word has played a part in him building strong relationships with his players throughout the years.
Even though he’s retiring as head coach, he still wants to talk to the players daily.
“He really cares about his players on and off the field,” senior football player Nolan Carpenter said. “He always texts us and makes sure we’re doing okay.”
He’s not just leaving a legacy behind as a caring coach.
Coach O has led the Eagles to two sectional championships (2016 and 2023) and overall finishes with a 56-44 record.
He was inducted into the Delaware County Athletic Hall of Fame in the 2024 class for his success as a coach and athlete at Delta as well as his contributions to the community.
“In football you have between 80 and 100 kids that are on your roster. When you truly achieve something together, and everyone’s from diverse backgrounds, and everyone has different beliefs and the adversity you had to travel through together, and you achieve something, it’s just really special,” Coach O said. “And those are the groups that you don’t really remember what’s been your best achievement.”
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For almost a decade, Overholt has been used to disciplining students – except not them being in trouble, but by motivating them in the weight room.
Now as an assistant principal, he’ll be in the office all day, responsible for bus referrals and junior and senior student discipline.
“I really felt the calling here. I love the school corporation and I wanted to do more here,” Overholt said. “So when this came open, I felt like it was time for me to step into a position and try to help and keep this place as good as it is.”
Former Delta principal Chris Conley took a position as superintendent of Cowan Community Schools and assistant principal Joey Gossett moved up to principal, which created an opening.
During week two of the high school football season, Overholt and some of the administrators started talking about the possibility of him becoming an assistant principal.
“This was something that originally I didn’t think was in the plans for a while, but it was just an opportunity that came out,” Overholt said.
He went through a series of interviews with Gossett and Delcom Schools Supt. Greg Kile to get hired.
The administrative staff, one principal and two assistant principals, are all new. Gossett, Overholt and assistant principal Brian Brewer are all in their first year of these new positions.
“I look forward to watching Mr. Brewer and Mr. Overholt grow into fantastic administrators,” Gossett said.
Brewer and Overholt were both teachers at Delta before becoming administrators.
Special education teacher Shane Conley and phys ed and business teacher Tyronda Benning are splitting the weightlifting classes until a new teacher is hired. Conley has the morning classes and Benning takes the afternoon ones.
Building relationships with students is one of Overholt’s favorite aspects of teaching. Instead of seeing 180 students a day in his classes, now he gets to meet the whole school.
“Some of my favorite kids in my weightlifting classes were the non-athletes that were just in there taking my class on a whim,” Overholt said. “And I look forward to meeting more of those kids in my position now.”
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During the early 2000s, Overholt worked at the Muncie Family YMCA as a personal trainer. There, he was introduced to the woman he would eventually marry.
Chris and Allison Overholt were introduced because Chris trained Allison’s friend’s mom. The friend knew as soon as she met Chris that he would be a perfect match with Allison, so she introduced the two.
They did turn out to be perfect for each other so they got married in 2009.
Five years later they had their first daughter, Avery, who’s now 10. Then in 2017 their second daughter, Olivia, was born.
Avery was just one year old when Chris became head coach of the Eagles. Olivia wasn’t even born yet, so being a part of DFB is what they’ve known their whole lives.
The girls love being a part of the team. They go to almost every team meal before gamedays, attend the football camps for kids and love to come on the field.
“(Avery and Olivia) have mixed feelings about this upcoming change,” said Overholt’s wife, Allison. “They love being ‘Delta celebrities.’”
The downside to having a dad being the head football coach is that he missed activities such as vacations, plays and sporting events. Now, he’ll be able to go to more of the girls’ events.
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Overholt hasn’t left his mark on just football players. As the former weightlifting teacher, he’s worked with hundreds of different students.
“(Overholt) has taught me everything I know,” senior weightlifter Hailie Woodring said. “He is very engaged in each and every person individually, looking at their specific journey.”
Investing in every individual and creating a bond has been a priority to Overholt throughout the years.
Even when he moved to the office, he still went to the weight room to talk to and encourage the students who were doing max outs. This is when someone attempts to lift the heaviest weight they can with good technique.
“I tried to talk to every single person every day,” Overholt said. “I’m going to miss the closer personal relationships, but I know that I’m going to have an opportunity to meet more kids (as an administrator).”
Senior Jennings Wine has played football and lifted weights at Delta since he was a freshman. He broke the record for men’s back squat with a 505-pound lift at Delta’s annual weightlifting competition in 2024.
Since no one but him can lift that much, it’s hard for Wine to find a spotter. But, Overholt stepped in to help Wine out.
Their strong relationship wasn’t just built in the weightroom, but also on the football field.
Some days during the weightlifting class the two would watch film from games and practices together, focusing on Wine’s performance to help him improve.
“He’s always been there to push me and make me better,” Wine said. “I’m really going to miss so much about Coach O.”
Woodring added: “It makes me very sad for the younger classes. They won’t be able to experience what I did and it was very life changing.”
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His career at Delta didn’t start with a job. Growing up, he attended Delcom schools, where he’s well-known for his athletic career.
Overholt was on the varsity football and track teams all four years of high school, even participating on the cheerleading team during his junior and senior years. At that time, Delta had a male cheer squad that helped the girls’ cheer team.
He was chosen All-State in football and made it to state for track and field in the discus event his junior and senior year. Overholt was a state finalist his junior year and he picked up a Division 1 offer from Ball State University to be on the men’s track team.
Unfortunately the BSU men’s track team was disbanded shortly after he received the offer in 2000. But, he still ended up attending BSU after he graduated high school in 2001.
He majored in business, which only lasted one semester. Since he was younger he knew he wanted to be a teacher, so he switched to education.
Overholt became the manager of the tennis courts at the Muncie Family YMCA Northwest branch, so he stopped going to BSU. Then he started personally training college athletes.
During this time he was also the varsity offensive line coach at Shenandoah High School, which he says reaffirmed that he wanted to work with high school aged kids.
“I loved working with kids and I didn’t have the most conventional path to college,” Overholt said. “I felt like I could help other kids learn from my mistakes so they didn’t have to make the same mistakes to kind of figure out what they’re doing with their lives after high school.”
It wasn’t until 2009 he decided to go back to BSU to continue his education.
After graduating from college in 2011, he worked at Jay County Schools in Portland, Ind., where he worked in the primary alternative school for a couple of years before moving into the assistant dean position at Jay County High School. He also was a football coach.
In 2015, he came back to Delta to be a middle school history teacher and varsity assistant coach for the high school football team. Just one year later he was the Delta football head coach and split teaching half day at the middle school and half at the high school in the weight room.
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His family was surprised when they found out that Overholt received the opportunity to become an administrator.
“If he didn’t jump on the opportunity now, who knows when, if ever, he would have a chance at administration for Delcom Schools in the future,” his wife said.
Chris isn’t the only one in the relationship who works at Delcom. Allison is a math teacher at Delta Middle School.
They both have worked in the Delcom district for 10 years.
“We plan on remaining Eagles for the long haul,” Allison said.
